


I caught you, but you are not mine to keep

by RonnieMinor



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Friends to Lovers, Male-Female Friendship, Multi, Sexual Content, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-10
Updated: 2012-08-10
Packaged: 2017-11-11 20:17:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/482520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RonnieMinor/pseuds/RonnieMinor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Two people, together, who nobody ever thought would be together... ever."</p><p>Sometimes wishes come true, but that doesn't promise anyone a happy ending. Lydia should have known.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I caught you, but you are not mine to keep

**Author's Note:**

> So I wanted to explore the idea of a Lydia/Stiles relationship, because it intrigues me - mainly because I don't see it working out in the long run. (I ship them as bros, nothing more)
> 
> And this happened. And it's kinda angsty. Whoops. 
> 
> Spoilers for all aired episodes/trailers. Finale speculation.

She doesn’t understand what’s going on that night. It’s too much, too fast – first Jackson getting injured on the lacrosse pitch, then Stiles going missing, then Stiles _not_ being missing, but turning up looking rather the worse for wear. She’s not sure what’s going on when she agrees to get in his jeep, and it all goes downhill from there. 

She loses track of it all in amidst the violence and chaos. There’s blood everywhere and _pieces_ of _people_ and she’s not sure whether this is worse than having Peter Hale haunting her, but it’s pretty damn close. 

She doesn’t even think when it comes towards her, all reptilian and scale and utterly terrifying. She just scrabbles away from it on the blood-slick floor and when her hand hits a gun, she picks it up without thinking. She remembers what her daddy taught her, breathes in; breathes out; takes careful aim and fires. The bullet lodges itself right between the thing’s eyes. And it stops. The thing stops. Then it keels over and lies on the floor, shaking. She breathes in, relieved. 

When the shaking stops and the thing turns into Jackson… she’s not so relieved then. 

A very, very small part of her brain thinks (somewhat smugly) that maybe if one of her so-called friends had just _told_ her about all the supernatural bullshit going on in this town, she wouldn’t have just killed her ex-boyfriend. The rest of her brain is a little busy screaming and crying and going into shock, because she just killed her ex-boyfriend, who also just so happened to be a murderous lizard-creature. That’s not to mention werewolves and blood everywhere and body parts and generally traumatic experiences. 

It’s Stiles who manages to get her back on two feet; who gives her an old t-shirt and hoodie that he has in his jeep, both long enough on her to mean she can take off her blood-soaked leggings. It’s also Stiles who takes her home and who ‘explains’ to her mom how she went from going to a lacrosse game to coming back in the middle of the night dressed in some boy’s clothes. His story is long and rambling and full of tangents and Lydia can actually _see_ the point where her mother stops listening. She glances at Stiles and just for a second, she sees a twinkle in his eye. That’s the moment that she realises he’s doing this on purpose; that this is how he gets away with so much. 

She has to admit, she’s impressed. 

She carries on being impressed as time goes on. In the aftermath of the ‘epic clusterfuck’ (Stiles’ name for it, not hers) that is the night of the state game, Stiles proves to be far more resourceful, clever and cunning than Lydia has ever given him credit for. She wonders how she never saw it before – usually she prides herself on noticing everything and everyone, down to the very last detail. Finally, she decides it’s because Stiles doesn’t _want_ anyone to see this side of him. It works to his advantage to be the clumsy boy, hyped up on too much Adderall and always running his mouth off. It gives him the perfect cover. 

It takes her less than two weeks to realise that she wants Stiles for her own. Somewhere between the horror movie that is her life and her desire to have the best she can get, she decides that Stiles is what she needs. So she goes after him, and it takes less than nothing to convince him that she’s finally seen his true worth. Well, rather, it takes less than nothing to convince him that he wants what she’s offering. Whether he believes what she tells him… that’s hard to know. 

To her surprise, she’s actually happy with him. Happier, even, than she was with Jackson – if nothing else, there’s never any need for her to dumb herself down around Stiles. He knows exactly how smart she is and exactly what she wants to do with her life; he thinks that makes her even more special. It’s more than that though, because Stiles is sweet and kind and _good_ at heart. 

She tries to take him to bed a couple of weeks after they start dating, but he won’t let her, telling her that he doesn’t want to rush things. She thinks at first that maybe it’s his inexperience holding him back, only to realise that it’s not that – Stiles just wants to make her feel like she’s worth more than sex. The gesture makes her eyes sting with tears, and she’s softer that day than she has been in a long time. 

They do have sex though, about a month later - after all, Stiles is a horny teenage boy and Lydia always gets what she wants. It’s not great, because he’s nervous and doesn’t know what he’s doing, but Lydia finds that she doesn’t mind. There’s something strangely moving about taking Stiles’ innocence like this; about knowing that she’s the one making his eyes roll back in his head and his back arch against the sheets, his hips stuttering against hers as he comes. And in the aftermath, she shows him how to return the favour, his fingers working to bring her to an orgasm of her own. His hands are reverent against her skin and when he tells her that she’s beautiful, she believes it. 

They stay together through summer semester and into the holidays, hanging out with Scott and Allison (who have somehow managed to worth through their differences) and occasionally spending time with Derek and the pack. Lydia starts to feel like maybe she gets what Allison was talking about that time she’d tried to get Lydia not to see anything about the kanima and Derek Hale’s pack attacking them. Sometimes, she thinks she might even be in love with Stiles. 

The break up hits her out of the blue. Sure, she’d noticed that Stiles was a little distant lately, but she knew the anniversary of his mom’s death was soon and she’d thought it was just to do with that. She’d thought things were going well between them. That they were good together. Stiles apparently disagrees. 

He’s so nice about it that it makes her angry. She listens to him telling her that he just doesn’t feel like they’re compatible as a couple anymore; that he’s holding her back; that she can do so much better. He tells her that he loves her, just not as anything more than a friend. He tells her that he still thinks she’s beautiful and that he still wants to be a part of her life, if she’ll let him. He tells her that he understands if she needs some time and space away from him. She hears it all and it makes her _angry_ , because he’s so nice and sweet and she knows he’s lying through his teeth. 

She’s seen behind his mask enough times by now to be able to see when he’s not telling the truth. There's more to this than he's letting on. 

So she says she understands, and says yes, she would like some time, but maybe they can friends in a while. She cries a little, because that's what's expected and because it _hurts_ and then she leaves. And when he gets in his jeep and drives into the woods, she follows him. 

Derek is back in his old house these days, slowing fixing parts of it up. Lydia’s seen inside a couple of times, but she and Derek will never be close friends, so it’s not like she’s spent a lot of time in there. She has to follow Stiles on foot from a certain distance, so by the time she gets within snooping distance, they're already inside. She crouches outside a window (still seriously lacking in glass) and listens in. 

‘- so we’ll talk to them about it after the next full moon’, Derek says. ‘Anyway, I thought you were spending today with Lydia?’ 

There’s a pause, and then Stiles says, ‘We broke up.’ 

‘Oh?’ 

‘Don’t give me that look, Derek’, Stiles says, and he sounds irritated. ‘Yeah, ok, it wasn't mutual. I broke up with her.’ 

‘How come?’ Derek asks, his tone curiously level. 

Lydia can almost _hear_ Stiles shrugging. ‘It wasn’t working out. I mean, Lydia’s great and all, and I like her a lot, but not like that. Not anymore.’ Stiles sighs loudly. ‘When we first started dating it was everything I ever wanted. It was better than I ever imagined – I mean, Lydia’s been a fixture in my life since third grade. Dating her was like a dream come true. I mean, she’s funny, she’s smart, she’s kinda scary… and she’s good at everything. I mean, _everything_.’ He chuckles slightly, and Lydia blushes despite herself. ‘But lately… I don’t know. It’s like I’ve spent so long being in love with her, or thinking that I was in love with her... Like I got everything I ever wanted, only to see that it’s not what I want anymore.’ 

There’s another pause. Then Derek says, ‘What do you want, Stiles?’ 

Another pause. ‘Well, I’m starting to think that my type is less strawberry-blonde goddesses and more dark, broody Alpha werewolf douchebags. You got any thoughts on that, Sourwolf?’ Then there’s the sound of bodies slamming into a wall, a gasp of breath and the wet sound of kissing. Lydia stays long enough to hear Stiles moan, and then she can’t take anymore, leaving as quietly as possible – even though she knows Derek must have known she was there the entire time. 

She cries the whole way home.


End file.
